HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-25-20 Public Comment - S. Wood - Public hearing and first reading of URD Plan and Ordinance for ID Pole SiteFrom:shanawood@q.com
To:Agenda
Subject:: Public hearing and first reading of URD Plan and Ordinance for ID Pole Site
Date:Sunday, October 25, 2020 10:07:11 PM
To: Bozeman City Commission
From: Shana Wood, 506 E. Cottonwood St, Bozeman, MT
Date: 27 October 2020
RE: Public hearing and first reading of URD Plan and Ordinance for ID Pole Site
Honorable members of the Commission:
I am writing to express my dismay about the Commission’s establishment of a URD Plan and
Ordinance and, down the road, a potential TIF zone for the ID Pole Site. I am a Northeast
neighborhood resident and I have lived in or around Bozeman since 1994. I have been a property
owner in the Northeast neighborhood since 2009. I have seen several boom/bust cycles and
associated periods of rapid growth. I am not against growth or change. Both are inevitable in a
robust economy and provide benefit to many, especially in places that put a high value on quality of
life as does Bozeman. However, I am against growth that is not supported by constituents. And I am
especially wary of growth that is subsidized by taxpayers to profit developers when instead, as we
have learned from rapid growth in many towns throughout the Mountain West, they should pay
their full and fair share. We simply have to learn that taxpayers don’t need to pay for growth, it will
come regardless. Instead, it should be cost-neutral or to our benefit. Developing an environmentally
contaminated site that will require long-term public investment in mitigation and/or infrastructure
development is not to our economic benefit.
I do not claim to be well-versed in the complexities of the environmental contaminants and
subsequent remediation of the site or the city planning tools and policies related to economic
development of the ID Pole Site. I have read the September 29th letter to Commissioners on behalf
of Northeast neighborhood residents by Chandler Dayton and Amy Hoitsma and some supporting
documents. I support their concerns and believe their questions warrant transparent answers.
There are several reasons I would not support a TIF district to assist in developing the site.
Infrastructure/transportation/utility development would undoubtedly be complex and costly
because the site is sandwiched between the railroad and Interstate-90 with limited ingress/egress. It
seems inconceivably complicated/expensive to design a safe and efficient transportation network
pinched between these current constraints and the amount of tractor-trailer traffic servicing the
existing neighborhood businesses.
The City of Bozeman taxpayers have had to clean up contaminated sites that were unwisely
developed before complete remediation occurred (the old landfill and Buttrey Shopping Center). The
ID Pole Site could be orders of magnitude more complex and involves contaminated soil and
groundwater. I simply cannot fathom that residences and restaurants are appropriate infill or re-use
of a site that treated wood with pentachlorophenol or something worse.
There are three thriving building supply businesses on the perimeter of the site, which are serviced
by truck and train. Simkins-Hallin, Kenyon-Noble and Empire Building provide the resources for a
large portion of the economic development and tax base in this valley. Do not disturb their business
models and force them to move. Gentrification and congestion could very well make Belgrade more
appealing.
Finally, ID Pole is a contaminated industrial site located between a railroad and an interstate. The
area is effective in providing a transition from city core to open space. Please leave it that way. I
believe public investment to help subsidize development of such a complicated and contentious site
would be reckless.
Sincerely,
Shana Wood
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